So we are busy bees in Keating HR doing lots of recruitment for our clients and it got me thinking about the recruitment process. It can be an arduous, time consuming process so here are a few tips for employers to help streamline looking for new members for your team. They don’t cost anything and can really help you to attract and hire the right people for you.

1. Spend time designing the role and be as specific as you can about the essential skills you need for your team. Be realistic too.

3. Screen Cv’s with the job spec in mind but also be aware that many skills are transferrable and bear in mind that initiative, enthusiasm and a desire to learn are tough to measure from a CV.

4. Consider doing a phone interview before you schedule face to face interviews. Decide on three questions that you really want the answers to and ask those. (Schedule the phone interviews before hand. Its not nice to surprise a candidate!!)

5. If telephone interviews are not for you send the candidates you have shortlisted an email with your key questions and ask them to respond to you by a date.

6. Consider asking candidates to prepare a presentation to present in interview but beware of the topic. Don’t ask them to present on topics they wouldn’t have knowledge of yet. Obvious I know but it happens. This is a great way to measure commitment, how they cope under pressure and their presentation skills without the usual generic questions.

7. Plan the questions you want to ask in an interview and take notes. Get

8. If the role is a practical one ask them to demonstrate their skills such as beauty treatments etc.

9. Take some time to plan out the training and induction period. What can you train in-house, who is the best person to train the new employee? It important to have a plan and some structure around this so that your new recruit hits the ground running.

10. Always set a trial or probation period and be disciplined about measuring progress and performance.

A new year is a good time so assess those areas of your business that might need a little attention. Planning ahead can protect you from those problems that can arise to knock you off course. Its also a good time to make sure you are getting the best from your team. Motivating your team can be a challenge particularly in these dark winter months. Check in with our blog for some tips for keeping morale up in the coming months.
For more information about how we can help with your people issues you can find us here

Last week I had the pleasure of attending The Image Womens Networking Breakfast and it was all about Branding, What makes a brand stand out? And how to create, develop and nurture your brand to become a global hit? One of the questions asked was about training employees to understand and communicate your ‘Brand Message’

Often as Business Owners or Employers we focus on aspects such as logo design, websites, visibility, the product offering etc but we miss out on a really key opportunity in relation to getting our brand message out into the public domain. The resource that often gets forgotten is our people, they work for us because they share a belief with us that there is value in what we do (or at least they should) and who better to deliver that message to the public than them.

And so how many of you reading this have an Induction Programme? And how many of you include some sort of training about your Brand in there? Its so simple and so key and yet so often missed. Food for thought isn’t it?

We ask a lot of an interview in the recruitment process, so the quality of your questions needs to be good. You are attempting to get lots of information about a candidate and how they work in a relatively short time…… so what should you ask?

What do you know about our company?

If a candidate is coming to interview with you and is interested in the role, they should have done their research. Be wary of candidates who don’t know at least the basics about your company!

What are your most significant achievements to date?

This allows the candidate to tell you what they are most proud of in their career to date and can put them at their ease. People like to talk about themselves and their achievements and you may find that it will relax the candidate enough for you to get a glimpse of the personality behind the interview nerves.

When was your performance last reviewed and what sort of review did you get?

This can give good insight into a candidates overall performance at work and also their ability to take constructive criticism. Reviews should form part of the ongoing management of people in an organisation and employees need to be able to be objective about the feedback and use it to improve their performance going forward. As the saying goes…. nobody is perfect. Beware of the candidate who believes that they are the exception!

What type of managers have you had in your career and what type of manager do you feel you perform best with?

Asking this question will force the candidate to think about the management styles they have encountered in the past and which ones they respond best to. Every manager has a style and the challenge is often being able to recognise yours and adapt it where necessary to accommodate everyone. It takes all types to make an organisation!

What will you bring to our organisation?

This is the candidates opportunity to sell themselves to you. By now you should have given them an insight into the role you are recruiting for and the attributes you are looking for so let them tell you why you should jump at the chance to hire them. You can learn a lot from someones sales pitch, particularly when they are selling themselves!